Where Has April Gone?! Half Marathon Recap from MARCH!

Why is it that spring is always the busiest season!?!

I cannot believe it's already the end of April. Sheesh!

I just realized I never posted about my second half marathon!!!

On March 30, we ran the RunTheBluegrass half marathon again for the second year in a row. Here is my recap from last year, my FIRST half marathon!!! 

This race continues to get better and better as the years go on! We did the race the first year when it was at the Kentucky Horse Park, but opted for the 5K as we were not 13.1 miles ready yet :) 

The course is now at Keeneland and it was the same hilly, sharp curves and hills at mile 9 course that I remembered last year! I didn't train on the course like I did last year, but I don't regret it. I almost think training on the course made me dread the hills because I knew exactly when they were coming!

Ben and I before the race. It was a beautiful morning and we couldn't have asked for better running weather!! Cold morning at the start line and cool during the race!

Ben and I both beat our time from last year, and that was our only goal!! I finished in 2:28:47 and Ben finished in 2:07:06. 

We're already talking about doing another half in the fall. I would love to be able to do RunTheBluegrass every year. I love supporting a local race! We even recruited a few friends....

I really do love and enjoy running. I just wish I had more time to run during the week when I'm not training for a race. Let's be honest, I have not been very good about waking up when my alarm clock goes off at 5am to hit the treadmill or run outside. 

 I'm so exhausted with work and grad school and everything else, the extra 30-45 minutes of sleep sound so much better. And if I don't run in the morning, it seems impossible to get a run in at night because there are a bazillion other things going on. If only I could schedule a certain running time and keep it... 

 We finally have a "free" weekend with minimal commitments so I will have a chance to run errands, do homework, catch up on laundry and go for a run. 

Hoping I can drag this little guy with me on all of the above :)

Have a great weekend!

Get Fit February

I'm kind of late to the party, but I'm still going to join Mals Miles in the 

Lose 5 lbs in February challenge!

Mallory just got her certification in Body Pump and has lost a ridiculous amount of weight in the past two years. 

I am currently training for the half marathon in March so my workout schedule is in full force now. 

I am hoping to get in 3 runs during the week and 1 long run on the weekends according to my training plan from Marathon Rookie here 

Along with my runs, I want to add more strength and cross training workouts. I like to do Pure Barre or BarreAmped for my strength training, but I'd like to use the free weights and machines at the gym more. I'm hoping Ben will train me and push me to use more weights this month :) 

My goal for the rest of February:

 -Track EVERYTHING in MyFitnessPal

-Link up with the "What I Ate Wednesday" posts

-Link up with "Fitness Fridays" posts

I'm hoping this will help hold me accountable throughout the week!!

Here it is... 

My starting weight

(ok, so this is after dinner tonight. I usually weigh about 124-124.5, so maybe my goal should be lose 6 LBS, ha!)

Some inspirational pictures for the month:

Who's with me?!?!

Half Marathon Recap

Yesterday was Run the Bluegrass!!!

I was excited, nervous, scared, intimidated, anything you could think, before Saturday's race. But I was so ready for it!!! 

I have been training for 17 weeks for this race!!! Now, I didn't always make all 3 runs each week, but I did most of my weekend runs - long and short! There were a few weekends I miss the short weekend runs due to March Madness games, or feeling the aftermath from watching the game the night before :) 

Ben and I are the start line

Ben and I ran the first 8 miles together! We averaged a 10-10:30/pace for the first 6 miles until the BIG hills started. I was so proud of this pace considering the hills we had. Once we hit mile 6, the big hills on Old Frankfort Pike started. We walked the ups and ran the downs, for those hills. They were hard. But I think the fact that we were ok walking them helped us conquer them! 

I felt great until about mile 11.... Then my knee started to tighten up. I took the rest of my Sport Beans to try and give me some endurance for the rest of the race. But, it was still hard for me to keep running. 

I ran the whole race with my friend's husband, who is like a 4-time marathoner, and was just using this run as a "training" run. Yeah... he signed up the night before. Crazy. He helped me SO much!!!!! He was so encouraging and helped remind me that my mini 1 minute walk breaks would help me in the end! 

 My trainer, John and I!!!

I finished the race strong, happy and excited! My overall time was 2:40:17, which I was completely fine with! My goal was just to finish! I really didn't care about my time. Especially after all of the reviews on the Run the Bluegrass website said not to expect a PR on this hilly course! And, I figure it's a great time to have so I can shoot for a PR next time around :)

That's right... I want to do another half marathon. It's official. I'm addicted to it. I NEVER thought I would love running this much. Or even, love running 13 point 1 freaking miles. I didn't think I would be able to ever run that far. But the truth is.... If you have a training plan, and you can stick to it, you will be able to run a half marathon! 

Does my body feel like complete crap today? Yes.... In fact, I'm walking like an old 90-year old lady. My legs are so tight. But, I'm still on my runner's high from the race yesterday! I can't wait to start training again. 

And hopefully, next time I run a half, I can recruit some friends!!! Like my sissy, or Jill :) My sister, Karie and her boyfriend drove 3 hours to come see us run!!! I was so happy to see her at mile 12 something. And she had my precious little Perry with her too :) 

Karie (And Andrew)-- Thank you so much for coming all the way down to Lexington to cheer us on!!! It meant so much to have you there! And I loved your sign you made! And the Cheryl's cookies and 13.1 tervis. You're the bestest!!!! LOVE YOU!

Also, two of my co-workers came to cheer me on too!!! So, so sweet! Amy's husband is the one who ran with me! They are trying to talk me into doing a full marathon in October. HA..... Maybe in a few years ;)

 Amy, me and Mindy

Oh, and the best part... After the race, Ben and I had to come home, stretch, shower, and get in the car for 4 hours to drive to Paducah for a friends wedding. Our bodies were hating us! I tried to wear heels, and it just wasn't going to happen. I switched to flats within 30 minutes, haha! 

And of course, we were sporting our Kentucky Blue last night. SO SO PROUD of those boys in blue! Cannot wait for the game tomorrow!!!!!

Oh....... C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS!!!  I hope you all will help cheer on the Cats tomorrow!

 

Half Marathon Training - week 7

I've been training for a half marathon for the past 6 weeks. 

It has been hard to stick to a schedule of running Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday. Sometimes I have to change it up, but I'm just trying to get two 30 minute runs during the week, and one long (or whatever is on the schedule) run on the weekend. 

Two weeks ago, I had a 6.5 mile run on the schedule. I've never done more than 5 miles, so I was nervous for 6.5. Ben and I ran it together. Well, we started out running together. We ran around our neighborhood towards a park close by that has a 2 mile loop. I felt fine until about mile 3.5 where the hills started.... And then my hips were killing. And then my knee started to bother me. But I was determined to finish!! 

Ben was so sweet and waited for me at certain points through the park. I think I started off running too fast to stay with him, and it killed me for the rest of the run. By the time we made it back home, we had gone 7.02 miles. I couldn't move the rest of the night. I haven't run outside in months, and then to run 7 miles, with hills.... IT HURT!!!!

Last week, I had an easy weekend run. Just a 3 miler. 

But this weekend, we had 8 miles on the schedule. I figured I would run out at Keeneland near the actual half marathon course. 

I work up from a nice Sunday afternoon nap around 2pm and Ben wanted to be out the door by 2pm so he could watch football. He ended up just running around our neighborhood again. I took my time getting ready and stretching, and then headed towards Keeneland. 

While I was looking up the map of course online, I saw they had scheduled training runs out at Keeneland today! They started at 2 pm, so I obviously missed them, but I was hoping to see some people out there. 

It really is a beautiful course!!!! I stopped to take pictures along the way and loved seeing the horses, farms and beautiful houses out there!

Around mile 6, it started to rain. I decided to take the next road back towards Keeneland and head towards the car even though I wouldn't finish all 8 miles. I was having a GREAT run and nothing was bothering me too bad, so I figured I better end on a good run than push myself in the rain. And, I was worried about having my iPhone in the armband with the rain! Haha. 

I ended up seeing two different groups of runners along the course. Everyone was so friendly!! When it started it rain, a lady who I'm guessing organized the training run, was driving around to make sure everyone was ok. She even checked on my even though I hadn't gone out with the crowd :)

The hills were NOT that bad! They were nothing like the ones I did 2 weeks ago. I think the hills today were longer, so it wasn't such a shock to my body. They were different, and I liked that, ha!

I ended up finishing at 7.5 miles. Which I was completely fine with. I was going to try and run the last 0.5 miles when I got home, but after the car ride, my muscles were so tight by the time I got out of my car. I would much rather end on a good run, injury free, than to push myself to complete 0.5 more and risk injury!

I came home and stretched. Perry even helped me stretch :) I'm going to ice my knees and then hopefully do a Pure Barre dvd later tonight. I love the PB dvd's because of the stretching we do after each muscle group. 

Today's run has me so excited for the half in March! Only 10 weeks away.....

Half Marathon Training

On November 30, Ben and I took advantage of the last day to register for the "early price" for Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon!!!

Last year, we ran the 5K and I told myself I wanted to do the half next year.... 

I am excited, nervous, scared as hell, intimidated... you name it!

13.1 miles is a LONG run! 

BUT! It starts and ends at Keeneland and takes you through the farms out there... So at least it will be a gorgeous run!

We started training on December 5 following the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon Training program found here.

It's pretty do-able.. Just a 25-30 minute run 2x a week and long run on the weekend. 

I usually come home from work and get right on the treadmill on Tuesdays.

I have managed to wake up early and do my runs on Thursdays before work. So that means waking up at 5am to get on the treadmill, ah! I never thought I would be able to do that...

The long runs haven't been too bad lately because I'm only up to 5 miles, but I have done them all on the treadmill. It's just easier for me. By the time I can get a run in, it's dark outside and I don't want to run outside alone in the dark!

This past week was hard to get a long run in with all the traveling and Christmas. I finally did it on Tuesday, so that's going to push this week back a little bit. 

Here's how I have set up my training plan on Excel.

I also track my runs using RunKeeper online and on my phone

Some days I have only been able to get a mile run in, and sometimes only a 25 minute run in when I'm running late in the mornings. BUT it all counts! It's all about flexibility right?! I am determined to FINISH this race. I don't even care about time, just as long as I can finish :) 

Not to mention, I've heard its a crazy hilly course. GREAT!

I also got some new running shoes that I'm excited to try out! 

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 14

Have you all done a Half Marathon? Any tips?!

Jill-I'm still trying to convince you to run it :)